Songs For When Your Flight Is Delayed

If you travel by plane with any regularity, you've been there: stuck in an airport because your flight is delayed. So we thought it best to give your most stressful travel moments a soundtrack. Today, we're recommending three songs for when your flight is delayed. See pcm.adswizz.com https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This message comes from Capella University. That spark you feel, that's your drive for more. Capella University's FlexPath learning format lets you earn your degree at your pace without putting life on pause. Learn more at capella.edu.

• 0:15Aisha Harris?

  A warning: this episode contains explicit language.

• 0:23Aisha Harris?

  If you travel by plane with any regularity, you've been there. Stuck in an airport because your flight is delayed.

• 0:29Stephen Thompson?

  So we thought it best to give your most stressful travel moments a soundtrack. I'm Stephen Thompson.

• 0:35Aisha Harris?

  And I'm Aisha Harris. And on this episode of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, we're recommending songs for when your flight is delayed.

• 0:47Stephen Thompson?

  Stay tuned for the following announcements and messages from our sponsors.

• 0:51Speaker 03

  This message comes from BetterHelp. Your brain has limited storage, so why is it still holding on to that embarrassing moment from years ago? BetterHelp is an online therapy platform that gives you space to talk about what's taking up too much of yours. BetterHelp is now in-network with more than 125 health plans, with many copays as low as $15 for eligible members. And if you don't have eligible insurance, you can still get 20% off your first month. Visit betterhelp.com/NPR. Cost and coverage may vary. Discount cannot be combined with insurance. This message comes from Mint Mobile. Ditch overpriced wireless and get premium wireless for less.

• 1:31Speaker 03

  Go to mintmobile.com/switch to see which plan works for you. This message comes from International Medical Corps. When crises strike, every second matters. And that's why International Medical Corps moves fast. From the flooding in Nepal to earthquakes in Venezuela, they deliver lifesaving medical care and supplies around the world while training local health workers to ensure care continues long after the emergency ends. This giving season, your generosity saves lives and builds resilience for tomorrow. Learn more or donate today at internationalmedicalcorps.org/NPR.

• 2:11Aisha Harris?

  It's just the two of us today, so let's get to it. The assignment is pretty simple. Come up with a short playlist of songs that might be useful when you're stuck at the airport. And Stephen, you brought us three songs today. And I gotta admit, when I was first going into this, I was like, I'm curious what kind of songs we're gonna pick here. And I was not expecting the direction that you went in, but I was very pleasantly surprised. So.

• 2:34Stephen Thompson?

  I thought you were gonna totally screw this up.

• 2:38Aisha Harris?

  No, no, no. I'm very excited for people to hear what you chose. So give us your first pick for when you are stuck at the airport and you are hating everything about life.

• 2:48Stephen Thompson?

  Well, I thought I'd actually take us in a few different directions. And we'll start out mellow and get a little more intense as we go along. But the first thing that came to mind was "Music for Airports" by Brian Eno, which is a piece of ambient music that is kind of designed to be, in a way, almost like elevator music. Ambient pieces that bring to mind the vibe the airport hopes you get. Then what I thought about was the airport that I have spent by far the most of my life stuck at, which is O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. I used to have to fly through O'Hare to get to Madison, where I lived for many years. Now, O'Hare has an underground walkway through which they have strung up all these glowy

• 3:33Stephen Thompson?

  neon lights and they play this twinkly new age music. And I always used to refer to that as the new age walkway. And so I wanted to pick a piece of music that conjured a little bit of the vibe of the new age walkway, because sometimes when I was stuck in O'Hare, I would just walk up and down the new age walkway, kind of imagining myself to be like a traveler in the future. So the piece of music I picked is by a guy named Edward Larry Gordon, who records under the name La Raji. And La Raji has worked with Brian Eno. And I think that the piece that I brought here kind of conjures some of the vibe that Eno was going for and kind of the vibe that runs through a lot of La Raji's music, which I really love. This is from a piece called "Introspection."

• 4:37Stephen Thompson?

  You'll note the sense of calm.

• 4:38Aisha Harris?

  Yes.

• 4:39Stephen Thompson?

  You might even get a sense memory of a massage.

• 4:41Aisha Harris?

  I was gonna say, it's giving like hot stone massage. Like, yes, I dig it.

• 4:48Stephen Thompson?

  When you're walking around the airport, listening to La Raji on your headphones, it is trying to just kind of slow your blood. Because if you're like me, and you're an anxious person, and you're stuck in the airport, you want something that's gonna slow the blood a little bit, something that's gonna calm you down, something that's gonna transport you to another place. And I think La Raji's music is really good for that.

• 5:09Aisha Harris?

  I like this pick, especially because I am like you, Stephen. I am very anxious when that happens, especially if you have a connecting flight and you're just worried about that. This feels like it would transport you into that spa room where maybe it's a little warm and cozy, and someone might be giving you a nice massage on your shoulders and rubbing out those knots. And yeah, I dig it.

• 5:33Stephen Thompson?

  That's the dream.

• 5:34Aisha Harris?

  Yes, yes. So that's "Introspection" by La Raji. All right, so what is your next pick?

• 5:40Stephen Thompson?

  There are some slight similarities, but the song has a little more urgency to it. The next pick is by a group called Spiritualized. Spiritualized makes kind of space rock music, I guess, for lack of a better term. I wanted something transporting, but a little bit peaceful at the same time. I'll explain a little more about the vibe that I'm going for after we hear a piece of the song. This is from "Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in space."

• 6:25Aisha Harris?

  I'm getting a little Bowie-ish a little bit. Yeah, space, yes.

• 6:30Stephen Thompson?

  Yeah, some of those spaceier elements are coming through. It's also a song that's performed in the round. So more and more is added to it as it goes along. It starts out very, very quiet. There's just this voice saying, ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in space. And then the song builds up from that. What I love about this song, this is one of my favorite songs of the 90s. I love this song. And the vibe that it captures that I think is appropriate to being stuck in the airport. This is a song that is conveying loneliness and a desire for connection with a note of humanity that you're kind of picking up even as the din is picking up around you. And so there's a little bit of like, I'm an astronaut floating through the void.

• 7:14Stephen Thompson?

  But also just this, this yearning for connectedness that I think can kind of provide comfort when you're in an airport, which is a very, very alienating place.

• 7:25Aisha Harris?

  Yeah. And this also just feels like a perfect thing to have directly implanted. If you're like wearing headphones, just like sucked in into your earlobes because you are going to be surrounded by people, you're going to be surrounded by noises and babies crying and people talking. And the last thing you want to do, or at least the last thing I want to do, is have to hear any of that. So this seems like it would easily drown that out in the calmest way possible.

• 7:50Stephen Thompson?

  That is a very good point. And I'm really glad you mentioned that because that is another thing I was thinking of with this song is that it is a song that acquires a certain amount of clutter as it's going along. Anybody who's spent any time in an airport knows those announcements that are just constantly cranking overhead, in addition to just, just the din made by all those people. Well.

• 8:13Stephen Thompson?

  This song, I think, absorbs a lot of that really nicely.

• 8:17Aisha Harris?

  Yeah. So that is Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space by Spiritualized. Stephen, round it out. What is our last pick here?

• 8:27Stephen Thompson?

  Well, I thought, A, I'd get a little more aggressive with each pick. B, I thought I would get a little bit older with each pick, kind of go farther and farther back in time. So my third pick is Hair of the Dog from 1975 by the Scottish rock band Nazareth. A, this song rules. B, this song has a use of cowbell that is somehow even more flagrant than the use of cowbell in Don't Fear the Reaper. This is one of the most cowbell-forward songs in the history of rock and roll. And C, this song is on this list because I want you to take your power back. Being stuck in an airport is a very disempowering experience.

• 9:07Stephen Thompson?

  You are entirely at the mercy of forces beyond your control, be they weather or airlines that don't know what they're doing, or any number of things. This song is for when you're stuck at the airport and you've got a long stretch of walkway and you just need to strut.

• 9:40Stephen Thompson?

  Delay my flight, will ya?

• 9:44Aisha Harris?

  Look, I appreciate this hard left turn into rage, like funky rage. Like you said, there's a strut to it, but it's still, it's angry. I feel it.

• 9:57Stephen Thompson?

  I'm sort of amazed that this song isn't quite as much of a standard.

• 10:03Stephen Thompson?

  As it could be, that this song doesn't just get needle dropped into every movie, you know, and like, okay, let's retire "The Boys Are Back in Town."

• 10:12Aisha Harris?

  Oh, my God.

• 10:13Stephen Thompson?

  Let's retire "Taking Care of Business." Let's install in their place "Hair of the Dog" by Nazareth, a song that still 100% rules. It would give me even a spark of joy to something as miserable as being stuck in an airport to hear this song blaring through my headphones.

• 10:31Aisha Harris?

  Yeah, well, you know, whatever great director makes a movie where there's a scene and a character is stuck in the airport, they know what cue they need to use.

• 10:42Stephen Thompson?

  That's right. That's right. This is the song you listen to when you're ready to take back your power.

• 10:47Aisha Harris?

  You heard it here first. Take back your power at the airport by listening to "Hair of the Dog" by Nazareth.

• 10:54Aisha Harris?

  Well, Stephen, these are great picks. And I love how we kind of like up the ante a little bit. Every, every one.

• 11:00Stephen Thompson?

  You got a zig when people think you're gonna zag.

• 11:02Aisha Harris?

  Yeah, and you know, I think it's good for every element, especially like the first hour of your waiting and then the second hour and the third hour when you just can't take it anywhere, can just let it all out.

• 11:14Aisha Harris?

  Well, we want to know your favorite songs to play when your flight is delayed. Find us at facebook.com/PCHH. Take your power back, y'all. That brings us to the end of our show. Thanks so much for being here, Stephen, and for helping us figure out how we deal with these most common of problems.

• 11:32Stephen Thompson?

  Thank you, Ayesha.

• 11:34Aisha Harris?

  This episode was produced by Mike Katsif and edited by Jessica Reedy. Hello, Come In provides our theme music. That's not quite as rageful as "Hair of the Dog," but...

• 11:44Stephen Thompson?

  Not yet, anyway.

• 11:45Aisha Harris?

  Not yet, anyway. Well, thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Aisha Harris, and we'll see you all tomorrow.